Review: “The Wiz Live!”

In The Wiz Live!, the Wicked Witch of the West, appropriately named Evillene (portrayed by a fierce Mary J. Blige) demands of her servants, “don’t you bring me no bad news.” If water was not her weakness, Evillene would be relieved to know this review contains praise for her and the entire ensemble of NBC’s latest live musical broadcast.

Two clumsy productions and one long yellow brick road later, the studio hesitant to admit they brought you 2013’s, The Sound of Music, and last year’s Peter Pan, finally managed to air a grade-A live theatre experience without an Underwood nor a Walken in sight. An energy was present in Bethpage, New York’s Grumman Studios that was largely lacking in NBC’s last two musical adaptations. Partial credit belongs to directors Kenny Leon and Matthew Diamond for giving the show’s momentum a lively pulse. Along with musical directors Harvey Mason, Jr. and Stephen Oremus who successfully ensure the show’s original song list replays in your head, acknowledgement must be given to the talented cast, made up of both budding and veteran performers.

Produced by Craig Zadan and Neil Meron and adapted from the original Broadway show by Harvey Fierstein, the story is universally known: Young, ambitious Dorothy Gale has her mind set on running away from the routine dullness of Kansas, but her plans are interrupted/intercepted by a passing tornado which displaces her to the fantastical land of Oz. Her whimsical adventure includes encounters with good and not-so-good witches (Amber Riley, Uzo Aduba, and Blige), an out-of-the-box cast of characters, and the all powerful Wizard of Oz, known as the Wiz (Queen Latifah, one of the production’s highlights).

In the Broadway production as is in this version, Dorothy’s canine companion, Toto, is not her ride-along through her Oz odyssey. Her “squad,” as she refers to them features a brainless, talking scarecrow (Elijah Kelley), a heartless tin man (Ne-Yo), and a scaredy cat for a lion (David Alan Grier, giving one of the show’s most memorable performances). Even in a far-out place like Oz, no actor looked or felt misplaced (with the minor exception of Common as the Bouncer who, quite accurately, makes minimal facial expressions much like a college bar bouncer).

Frank L. Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz has been through every entertainment register imaginable, and The Wiz remains one of the better examples of taking a timeless piece of pop culture to a revised, cultural frontier. It was a show-biz game changer, opening new doors for the limited number of African American roles available both on and off the Great White Way.

Instead of casting a well-known name for their lead, NBC held open auditions for the role of Dorothy this past summer. What a relief the studio discovered and cast Shanice Williams, a strong newcomer capable of carrying a show as popular and complex as The Wiz. Dorothy is almost always onstage, which means she must earn the audience’s likability within the show’s first scene for them to want to stay with her on this journey. One can hope Williams’s collaboration and exposure to enormous talents such as Grier, Latifah, and Stephanie Mills will help her develop what potential she exhibited in a funky, Wiked-inspiring Oz. At times, one could sense Williams was hesitant in her movement, as if she was not sure what to do with her arms in that sleek yet restricting jacket. Thankfully she slowly let go, progressing from timid, runaway farm girl to confident heroine comfortable with her surroundings.

Casting Mills as Aunt Em brought her history with the The Wiz full circle, as she kickstarted her career playing Dorothy in the show’s original Broadway run from 1975 to 1977. The majority of her performance occurs in the opening scene with a flawless rendition of “The Feeling We Once Had.” In the past, NBC brought well-known Broadway talent to both The Sound of Music and Peter Pan. Those actors were always the best and most reliable source of character, yet they were either side-kicked or deprived in screen/stage time to make room for the big names used to draw viewership and ratings. With The Wiz Live!, NBC learned dynamite talent, no matter how well known, reels in more positive ratings and a much more engaged audience. The proof is in the pudding: The Wiz Live! drew an audience of 11.5 million viewers on its original air date, December 3. The show was re-aired December 19 with an audience of 1.6 million viewers. With those numbers, it is safe to state NBC is feeling “a brand new day.”

The Wiz Live! is available for viewing at NBC.com and on DVD through Universal Studios Home Entertainment.

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